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The local truck-traffic dispute that last year pitted neighborhoods in the suburbs west of Wilmington against each another – and caused political ramifications statewide – still has not been settled.

Mary Ann Summers, the Newport Gap Pike tractor-trailer foe, is holding a meeting with state officials on Monday, the latest in her yearslong fight to reduce the daily rumble of heavy trucks rolling past her 19th-century home along a narrow Del. 41.

Summers and other residents who live along the highway near Brandywine Springs Park are demanding that the state more strictly regulates tractor-trailers, particularly trucks that measure longer than 60 feet.

Summers fears the noise and vibrations from trucks will grow worse in coming years as plans materialize for a new container port in either Edgemoor or New Castle. State officials currently are looking for a private developer to build the new port.

“I don’t necessarily believe that we should all sit and wait until (more) of these trucks come flying down this road,” Summers said.

Summer's segment of Del. 41, long a preferred Wilmington-to-Lancaster, Pennsylvania, connector for truckers, is also lined with middle-class houses situated, in some cases, fewer than 20 feet from the roadway. Her advocacy during the past two years prompted the Delaware Department of Transportation to remove signs directing trucks to Del. 41 and replace them with signs telling truckers to use the wider Del. 48. The move sparked anger among neighbors who live along that highway.

Sen. Greg Lavelle, R-Sharpley, in an October email to constituents, said he was "livid" when he learned transportation crews installed the new highway signs.

Del. 48 residents responded forcefully, resulting in a neighbor-against-neighbor dispute, featuring multiple meetings with state officials acting as the arbiter. Each side argued the other highway is more suitable for heavy trucks that often employ a noisy engine compression braking system, called jake brakes, to slow down.

At one meeting in October, an irate crowd of nearly 1,000 Del. 48 residents demanded elected officials in attendance state where they stand on the issue. Then-Sen. Patricia Blevins said a fair solution can come only from DelDOT data-driven engineers, an unsatisfactory answer for many in attendance who wanted Blevins, the Senate pro-tem, and others to take a political stand.

A month later, Blevins, a 26-year-veteran of the Delaware Senate, lost her re-election bid to attorney Anthony Delcollo.

Delcollo in December acknowledged voter anger over his election opponent’s stance on tractor-trailer traffic played “some role” in his surprise victory. He has since co-sponsored a resolution to establish a committee to make recommendations about how heavy trucks should be directed through northern Delaware’s communities.

Summers expects Delcollo to attend the meeting on Monday evening, along with Rep. Gerald Brady, Rep. Kimberly Williams and Lt. Mike Wysock of the Delaware State Police.

Contact Karl Baker at (302) 324-2329 or kbaker@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.